April 23 - May 15, 2013

FMX is the leading European conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia and has grown to become one of the most important international conferences in the industry during the past few years. This year FMX opens with an Exhibition about Concept Art in the Design Center, Stuttgart with 30 art pieces from 15 international digital artists such as Harald Belker, Virginie Bourdin, Paul Chadeisson, Uwe Heidschoetter, Maciej Kuciara, Tobias Mannewitz, Paperblue, Peter Popken, Christian Lorenz Scheurer or Thomas Scholes. Check out the daily schedule

fmx.de
Desing Center Stuttgart

free software

Sculptris is an intuitive, powerful and yet easy to use 3D sculpting software, allowing anyone, whether starter or professional to simply focus on creating 3D artwork. What's more, the skills you learn with Sculptris directly translate to ZBrush and the download of the application is for free.

free web application

Color Scheme Designer (CSD) is a web application designed to easily create set of matching color. Color theory used by artists for centuries was transformed into algorithms to combine color they go best together while avoiding uncomfortable combinations.

colorschemedesigner.com

free download

Adobe offers a free download of the Creative Suite 2 from their website. CS2 may not contain the latest features but is the perfect opportunity for students and beginners with small budgets to start learning more advanced software.

Download from adobe.com

model kits

Industria Mechanika works with concept artists and sculptors, both traditional and 3D, to bring their original ideas to the world in the form of high-quality resin model kit products. These products are available in the shop and through a small network of distributors.

Already available are designs from Scott Robertson, Ian McQue, Derek Stenning, Miguel Lopez (below) and many more.

industriamechanika.com

free download

Ryan Hawkin's Vertex is still available for free on his website. The 300-page PDF includes everything from 2D concepts to 3D rendering and is one of the most comprehensive resources for a game artist's library.

download a high-rez-file at artbypapercut.com

crowd funding for design projects

Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects such as films, games, music, design and comics. Each project is independently created and crafted by the person behind it. If people like the project, they can pledge money to make it happen and receive rewards in exchange for their efforts.

kickstarter.com

book recommendation

Two educational books from independent publisher KEEOS.COM, only distributed through their own website:

•Design Sketching was written with the main goal of creating a source of inspiration by showing a collection of different types of sketches. Containing work from over 60 designers, covering diverse fields such as product, automotive and fashion design.

•Learning Curves, whilst also aimed at providing a source of inspiration, has a much stronger emphasis on showing, how one can teach oneself to sketch. Includes basic theory, investigative and explorative sketches from the early stages of projects, explanatory sketches used to communicate, and persuasive sketches done to sell and express emotion. Round off with 6 step by step sketching tutorials.

  www.designsketching.com

SPMag

Selfpublischer is the platform where comic creators meet fans. The Magazin is available for free to download from their server.

This month's issue contains: Interviews with Amy Letts, Jennifer Walker, Eric Douthitt. Convention Report, Comics in a Bottle, The Condition One App, Sneak Peek features, How To Create a Comic Book, Ads from indy studios and tons of reviews.

Self Publisher Magazine, 44 page full size and color, download here →

www.selfpubmag.com

Nuthin' But Mech

Design Studio Press just released a book devoted to robot and mecha designs only. Nuthin' But Mech is the first installment of a series and will showcase the work of designers such as Thom Tenery, Feng Zhu, Greg Broadmore, Ian McQue, Marc Gabbana, Neil Ross and Peter Popken among others. To preview more images and buy the book please visit Design Studio Press →

nuthinbutmech.blogspot.com

cars

CarDesignCommunity.com is a professional informative online service and community aimed mainly at professionals in the automotive industry, design students and transportation design devotees.

Designers can show their professional level by posting their works in the ‘Portfolio’ section, where the works are discussed and rated by the community. Apart from the informational and social constituents the site has educational facilities such as tutorials and master-classes. Moreover, the site is specialized in holding different types of contests.

The project was launched in 2001 as a Russian-speaking web-source CarDesign.ru, which deservedly gained general popularity in Russia and other countries – starting with the specialists, who work in the industrial and automotive design sphere.
 
cardesigncommunity.comhttp://cardesigncommunity.com/       cardesign.ru

GDC Europe, Cologne 2012

The world's largest trade fair and event for interactive games and entertainment opens it's doors from August 15 to 19, 2012. Gamescom is accompanied by in- and outdoor events, live-acts and performances through out the duration. Day one will be exclusively reserved for trade visitors

gamescom.de
gdceurope.com
 

podcast

Loikamania is a weekly podcast hosted by writer/illustrator Pat Loika. It’s a free-form comics and pop-culture podcast where Pat reviews the latest comics, movies, TV and even music offerings with various friends and industry guests such as Eric Canete, Leinil Francis Yu, Adi Granov and Ramon Perez

The official site to the Loikamania pop-culture podcast

follow the black rabbit

Beth Cavener Stichter is a sculptor residing in the U.S. state of Washington. She has exhibited internationally and teaches workshops across the country. Her working method is unusual. The solid stoneware sculptures, often built up with 2,000 or more pounds of clay at a time, are cut into pieces and hollowed out before reassembling again for firing. A slideshow and a brief introduction of this process can be seen on her website under the Materials and Techniques section.

Beth Cavener's website

August 09- 12, 2012

For four days, top creative professionals from the worlds of entertainment, film, games, comics and fine art come together to share their techniques and ideas.

WorkshopSF will include live demonstrations: digital and traditional, figure painting and drawing, lectures on character, creature, environment and technological design, storytelling for comic books, cover and marketing illustration, business practices and portfolio reviews on a recruitment day.

massiveblack.com/workshopsf

open sources

FreeArtSoftware lists the best free graphic design software downloads. Some may be test versions and only valid for 30 days, others are designed as freeware or licensed under open source.

freeartsoftware.com

Evyind Earle

Eyvind Earle was an author and illustrator, best known for his contribution to backgroundspainting and styling of Disney animated films in the 1950s. Finally, EvyindEarle.com goes online with many images of his oil paintings and serigraphs.

 EvyindEarle.com

New at the App Store

Adobe releases Photoshop Touch today.
The Little brother of CS5 is available for iPad 2 only and comes with a fairly low resolution of 1,600 x 1,600 pixels.

www.adobe.com

Buy at iTune Store for $9.99

concept art online conference

This global conference creates a direct worldwide connection to leading industry veterans, including game, film, and associated trans-media fields. It provides daily keynotes, over 100 speaker presentations, departmental talks, as well as secure greenlight pitch and mentor sessions. The program includes gripping discussion, informative Q&A periods, shared post-mortems and career days too.

Track topics include I.P. Development, Production, Art, Design, Technology, Management, Marketing, Public Relations, Media and Business, This important event is brought to life within an easy, proven, secure, online tool suite that is conveniently available 24/7.

Info and registration at conceptart.org

art blog

…and here is another nice web blog. This time hosted by architect Alison Sampson featuring hundreds of remarkable images from comics, illustration, architecture and graphic design.

spaceintext.wordpress.com

screenshots

For resource hunters and all those interested in cinematography, here are some nice websites with movie screengrabs. The first link is exclusively dedicated to Hitchcock's films:

www.hitchcockwiki.com
framefilter.blogspot.com
cinemosaic.blogspot.com
evanerichards.com

Google Art Project

Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.


The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

www.googleartproject.com

work in progress

Artboxforum offers a site with samples of sequential art in the field of comic book illustration, showing the different stages of a page from rough sketch and inking to colored pages.


·Storyboard, lápiz y tinta y color por Adrián Fernández.

sneak peek

EXPLORE is an opportunity for artists of any level and discipline to sample the TAD experience - a week filled with live demos, visiting professionals, and advice from some of the star students. For five days this November, The Art Department(TAD) is offering an exclusive sneak-peek inside the virtual classrooms through EXPLORE, an introduction to TAD Interact with the esteemed faculty and industry professionals such as Jon Foster, George Pratt, Sterling Hundley, and others. Registration is $75 per applicant, and is open to participants both domestic and international. A full schedule of events and course descriptions is listed here.

theartdepartment.org

Eric Brown is known as a concept artist who worked on films such as Titanic, Alien Resurrection and most currently Tron: Uprising.

He recently published the 64-page hardcover called Autodraw, Concept Book Vol 1, which collects mostly his personal work and some from the film industry.

The book can be purchased on his blog and there is a more detailed review and preview pics at Parka Blogs

http://ericlloydbrown.blogspot.com/